First of all, could you tell us a little bit about Death By Shoes, - how long it’s been running for, and how it all got started. Over four years now. It's free and runs the third Saturday of every month and is at the Cremorne on London Road. I started it with a friend as a co-venture, he moved to London about a year or so into doing it and I have run it solo ever since. We used to have bands play every month, but now we have bands on a little more sporadically, as i found people seemed to be leaning towards favouring it as a club night rather than a place to go watch bands early on. But having them on every few months or so seems to strike a balance that works. I guess essentially it's a night that focuses on anything and everything that is a bit alternative, both in a popular and obscure sense.
What was the inspiration behind starting the night?
At the time nu-rave was getting really big and everyone was into glow sticks and bright trousers and all that stuff, and a lot of the nights were playing a lot of this kind of stuff on a regular basis. Obviously Sheffield has a very vibrant and rich heritage and culture when it comes to electronic music, but I found this particular strand of it pretty tacky and I could see the limited shelf-life of it, so it certainly wasn't something i was embracing; but it proved difficult to avoid it, as it was either that or the very 'laddy' scene of the post-Arctic Monkey's dumping ground, which I found even more repugnant. At the time i was really into a lot of post-punk and 60's garage music, i was still very young at this time, so it was an exciting time exploring these new genre's and sounds that i was unearthing, the night was suggested to become an outlet for these new sounds and bands. So the night was plain and simply a place to hear the music we were into in a public place, and act as a bit of sand in the Vaseline.
As a student coming to Sheffield, the city felt a little lacking in “alternative” nights. Do you think this is true, or am I just not looking hard enough?
There are places to go, but it's not as omnipresent as it is in somewhere like Leeds or Manchester. There are plenty of independent promoters putting on interesting and alternative nights, but the conclusion I have come to is that even though it's very heavily populated with student's, a lot of them coming here aren't really into that side of things as much, or so it seems. So while the options are there, if the attendance is poor the nights struggle and often collapse, so you get little waves and strands of alternative nights here and there, rather than big, well established and long running ones that dominate the city. This means it's interesting and gives the city a sense of individuality and quirkiness but can be frustrating to newcomers, i too arrived here as a student and it took me a long time to discover the alternative side of the city. Whereas in other similar cities it's almost inescapable.
Was it important for the night to be held in a pub like The Cremorne rather than one of the more corporate venues in Sheffield that seem to cater mainly for students?
When you are running a night i think the ultimate ethos that needs to run through your head is 'if this was somebody else's night, would i come to it and would i like it?' if the answer is yes then you are okay. I don't go to clubs or big venues unless strictly necessary, so to run a night in one would defeat the very purpose and intent of starting something alternative in the first place. I like places with character and personality, larger venues are often very sterile and unwelcoming, so doing it in the Crem is very important for that aspect, as there is no denying the place has character.
Do you have aspirations to expand the night or are you happy for it to remain the same size?
I've been asked that for years and had several offers from other venues, but I’m happy with it as it is, it would lose what it was about if it moved. Sometimes when it's really busy it can be a bit of a squeeze but i guess that's part of the charm.
Unlike Manchester, Leeds or London, Sheffield doesn’t really seem to have a distinguished music scene, but it has a strong history of producing great bands. Any idea why this might be?
Young people aren't starting bands any more, simple as. People move to Manchester, Leeds or London to start bands, Sheffield doesn't seem to have that and therefore no scene emerges because there is no sense of community, competition or movement. Which is nice that it doesn't subscribe to preconceptions and trends, but is massively frustrating that a city of this size has so few young and new bands and sadly so little good ones.
You also run an independent record label – Kicking Against The Pricks – This must be a hard thing to do in a world where no one really buys music anymore.
It's not really a label. It's a music publication I founded and also edit and we have put out a couple of cassette tapes as part of it. nobody bought them and i lost a bunch of money, so probably won't be doing it again. I wouldn't dream of starting a proper label in current times.
Is there any local talent we should be looking out for at the moment?
I like the Jesus Loves Heroin Band, the Purgatory Players, Liars Beware and Remember Honolulu.
What’s your favourite thing about Sheffield as a whole?
It's humbleness.
Do you have a certain agenda when picking songs for the night? Are the songs selected from your personal choice or do you have to be more flexible in terms of general popularity?
I used to be really self-indulgent and play only what I wanted regardless of the reception it would receive, which i miss somewhat, as it obviously gathered a following based on me doing that. The thing is, with doing a night for so long, you get to know what your crowd are like and what they react to, so it becomes tempting to play to the crowd a little more. I'd never ever play a song I didn't like just to please someone, but i have been known to press people's buttons when needed. The key of course is striking a balance between self-indulgence and pleasing people, the alienating and the embracing.
What’s the best “floor filler” song from your experience?
It really varies, difficult to say. I guess the stooges and pixies have always done the job from day one and still to this day
Top five albums ever?
I can't answer this, because i am a complete music nut to the point of detrimental obsession and attempting to think about it, let alone answer it would cause me to lose my mind, not to mention shit off from society for a couple of years to try work it out
By Tom Roper
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